Near-miss asteroid snapped by remote control

These 21 images showing the path of the asteroid, were taken throughout the 30 minutes 00:51(EAST) to 01.22(EAST), Tuesday September 5th.

Australia's first remote-control telescope at Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, last week captured a sequence of photographs of a 'near miss' asteroid as it passed Earth.

Professor David McKinnon operated the telescope by remote control via the Internet to collect 21 pictures of the one-kilometre-wide asteroid over 30 minutes as it travelled through space at over 25 kilometres per second.

Dr McKinnon said the asteroid was only 12 times further away from Earth than the moon and had it hit Earth, it would have made a crater 250 kilometres in diameter and injected enough dust and material into the atmosphere to block out the Sun.

"It would have been similar to the event which brought an end to the dinosaurs", he said. "Life as we know it would have finished."

The 21 photographs, each of 30 seconds exposure, were 'stacked', to produce the accompanying image.

Dr McKinnon attributes the varying brightness of the asteroid, to its uneven shape and the fact that it is "tumbling" through space, therefore exposing different sides through time.

Images of the asteroid and other photos taken using the remotely controlled telescope can be seen here.